Luverne third baseman Adam Kurtz protects the ball before slapping a tag on Adrian’s Pete Hohn during Tuesday’s Area A American Legion Baseball playoff game in Luverne. Kurtz ended up being the winning pitcher in a 2-1 victory.By John RittenhouseA seventh-inning rally by the Luverne American Legion baseball team gave the Cardinals a berth in the Area A Tournament championship game Tuesday.Luverne, which was hosting a scrappy Adrian team in the tournament’s semifinals, found itself trailing 1-0 heading into the home half of the seventh inning.After being baffled by Adrian pitcher Brandon Wolf for six innings, the Cardinals circled the wagons in time to pull out a 2-1 victory.The win upped Luverne’s record to 6-8 heading into last night’s Area A championship game against Pipestone at Redbird Field.A win against Pipestone would give the Cardinals the tournament championship. A loss would send the Cardinals into a game for second or third place that will be played 8 p.m. Friday at Redbird Field.Shortstop Zach Wysong ignited the seventh-inning surge by slapping a sharp, leadoff single to right field.The next batter, Rob Fodness, lifted a fly ball to short left field that bounced out of the webbing of left fielder Jake Salter’s glove for an error.Wolf then hit Luverne’s Mark Remme with a pitch to load the bases before being lifted for reliever Pete Hohn.Hohn started strong as he fanned the first batter he faced, but the situation turned sour for Adrian after that.Luverne’s Jesse Kuhlman drilled a single to left field to chase home Wysong with the tying run.Then Adam Reisch, who already had two hits in the game, chased home Fodness with an infield single that bounced out of the glove of a diving Dusty Spieker, who was manning third base for Adrian.Both teams missed a number of scoring opportunities early in the game, but Adrian broke through for a run in the top of the fifth.Adrian’s Dusty Henning reached base on a throwing error to start the fifth before stealing second base. Henning scored when Levi Bullerman doubled to left-center field. Bullerman, however, was thrown out at third base trying to go for a triple.Adrian placed two more runners on base before the fifth inning before Luverne starting pitcher Devan Goembel was replaced by Adam Kurtz.Kurtz fanned the final batter in the fifth and went on to toss two and one-third innings of scoreless relief to earn the win. Kurtz yielded three hits and fanned three batters.Goembel, who was charged with one earned run in four and two-thirds innings, pitched well without gaining a decision. He allowed four hits.Wolf, who led Adrian at the plate with two hits, took the loss. He yielded eight hits, one earned run and one unearned run.Hohn recorded one out while allowing two hits.Adrian played Edgerton in an elimination game in Edgerton last night.Box score AB R H BISchmidt 3 0 0 0Kuhlman 4 0 1 1Reisch 4 0 3 1Goembel 0 0 0 0Kurtz 3 0 1 0Pick 3 0 0 0Studer 3 0 0 0Wysong 3 1 2 0Fodness 3 1 1 0Remme 2 0 2 0
